


Joining the Papa Club

by greeny1710



Series: Our Families [8]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Basically Charles has like a mini freakout, But that's fine because having a child is a scary idea, Fluff, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-15
Updated: 2020-01-18
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:14:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22272406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: Pierre wants a family with Charles.Charles is terrified.It takes Max and a hug from a 6 year old to prove that everything will be okay.
Relationships: Daniel Ricciardo/Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly/Charles Leclerc
Series: Our Families [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569160
Comments: 42
Kudos: 158





	1. Merde

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> altissimozucca mentioned about a month ago that they’d like to see _maybe the frenchies aka charles and pierre, if you feel comfortable writing them_ and I deliver. 
> 
> I bulk wrote this during/after a panic attack at uni today so love that for me, so that’s basically why the first part is Charles panicking bc I was self projecting onto him instead of dealing with it like I should have lol
> 
> But I hope you enjoy, this is part one of a two part fic of them getting a family and then, as per, they’ll just join the realm of ‘these boys have a family and now I get to write about all the cute stuff they get up to’
> 
> I’ve also been itching for an excuse to write a fic with Charles as the main bc I’m working on a very long, very angsty fic about him at the moment and I need all the practice I can get on his character development :)

When Pierre proposed that they should start a family, Charles had forced a grin onto his face, nodded an acquiescence and then when Pierre turned his back, he ran out of the room and ended up banging his fist on Max and Daniel’s door. 

“Will you shut the fuck up Jak’s asleep?!” Max whisper-shouted as he pulled the door open. But when he took in Charles’s wide eyes and his panicked state, Max gripped his forearm and pulled him into the room. 

“I can’t do it, I can’t, I’m not ready, we don’t know how to be parents, I can’t do it,” Charles sobbed, burying his face in Max’s chest and clutching on tightly. 

“Daddy? What’s wrong?”

“It’s fine, Lucky, can you go get Papa for me?” Max told him, and between Charles’s cries he could hear Lukas run off, his tiny feet pattering against the floor as he fetched Daniel. Max rocked Charles the entire time, shushing him gently and running his fingers through Charles’s hair, his fingers getting tied in the knots but he just kept brushing them out much the same way he did to Lukas’s curls. 

“Papa?”

“Go look after your brother Lukas.” Daniel ordered, and Lukas went without arguing, quietly plonking himself down on the hotel’s bedroom floor and watching his brother sleep. Max had left him with his colouring pencils and some paper, knowing that it would keep his young son distracted. 

Max and Daniel looked over Charles’ head at each other, having a silent conversation as Charles’ wails filled the room. Max nodded at Daniel and slowly started to walk Charles over to the small sofa. Daniel sat down beside him, sandwiching Charles in between them as Charles refused to let go of Max, holding onto him as tight as he could. 

“Charles, kid, what’s wrong?”

“I’m not ready, we can’t do it, we can’t do it,” he sobbed, words becoming almost a blur.

“Can’t do what, Charles, what’s wrong?”

“I can’t be a Papa, I don’t know how to do it!”

“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Max hushed, “None of us know how to be dads, we’re all learning at the same pace.”

“I can’t do it, I can’t.”

“Yes you fucking can.” Max told him, pulling Charles away from him and making the other driver look at him. “If I can do it, so can you.”

“My Dad...” Charles trailed off, screwing up his face as though he was in pain. And he was. His heart was aching like he’d never known it to before. How could he be a father when he’d lost his own? How was he meant to know what to do?

“You had 19 amazing years of learning from him, Charles. And 17 years of Jules teaching you what it means to love someone unconditionally. They’re gone. And it’s always going to hurt, especially when you hold your child for the first time and you’ll be reminded that the people you love the most can’t hold them too. But their spirits live on, in you, in your child, in your love for Pierre and your family. They’re gone but that doesn’t mean they aren’t still here in some capacity guiding you. You were lucky to have a father and a godfather who loved you as much as they did. Cherish that. Cherish their memories. And teach your child what it means to be loved.” Max told him. 

Daniel kept rubbing his hand up and down Charles’ back as Max talked, and Max saw the slight flinch from Daniel when he mentioned Jules. It had been years since they lost him, and it still hurt to remember it. It always would. But they also had to keep his memory alive and Max had meant what he said. Just because they weren’t here in body doesn’t mean they weren’t still here in some other ways.

“I can’t be a dad, I can’t do it without them.” Charles whimpered, “I need them.”

“Yes you can.” Max nodded. “You can, because you’ve got Pierre. You’ve got your brothers and your mum, us, Seb and Kimi. There’s always people around, Charles.”

“Do you know how many time Lando has cried down the phone to one of us since he and Carlos adopted the girls? No one knows how to be a dad, Charles, it’s just learning, mate,” Daniel shrugged, brushing Charles’ hair off his forehead, “It’s been six years since we had Lukas and we’re still learning ourselves. Jak is 18 months and we still don’t know what we’re doing entirely with him either and we’ve already done this once. It’s all just learning and trial and error, mate.”

“I can’t do this alone.”

“You’re not alone, Charles. Pierre asked you because he wants a family with you. He’s not the fuck and duck type. You know how much you mean to him.” Daniel reminded him. 

“I can’t, I can’t have him leave the baby, my baby can’t lose its dad too. They can’t go through what I did.”

“You seriously think he’d leave you? Charles, he loves you more than anything, he’s not going anywhere. He wants a family with you.” 

“But what if he doesn’t?” Charles whispered, rubbing his eyes with his fists, and dropped his head onto Max’s shoulder, “What if he just wants a baby because everyone else has got babies? Everyone has two babies, you guys, Seb and Kimi, Carlos and Lando. Everyone has babies or is going to have one. We don’t, it’s just us that don’t.”

“You know about…”

“He told Pierre.” Charles told him. “I don’t know if he meant to, but he did. What if that’s the only reason he does?”

“Talk to him, Charles. You can’t decide what he thinks, it’s his mind, no one can tell you why he wants a family apart from Pierre.”

“I’m scared.”

“Pear loves you,” a small voice input, climbing behind Charles and tiny arms came to wrap around his neck. 

Charles lifted his head and when he saw the soft look in Max’s eyes, he knew just who was digging their tiny bony knees into his back. Charles tugged the tiny person around and Lukas fell into his lap, hugging Charles’ neck as tightly as he could. 

“Pear loves you, have a baby with him, it’ll be fun.” Lukas murmured, kissing Charles’ stubbly cheek lightly.

Charles hugged Lukas to him, holding him as tightly as he could and closed his eyes. 

Could this be him?

Could he be a father, a parent, a dad to a little boy or a little girl? 

Did he want to watch every single day what his child would grow to become? 

Could he imagine giving up everything he’d worked so hard to get to have a baby?

What would he do if Pierre did decide to up and leave? Could Charles really be a single dad?

Yes. 

He could. And he would. To everything. 

He loved Pierre, and he was sure Pierre loved him. But Charles was notorious for thinking about the worst-case scenario. You couldn’t get hurt if you always assumed the worst was going to happen. 

“Talk to him,” Daniel said, drawing the two into his arms and kissing Lukas’ curls before tickling Charles’ neck, “Talk to Pierre, tell him you’re scared. Having a family isn’t easy, Charles, but you can do it. You both need to be ready and you both need to be aware of what you’re getting yourselves in to.”

“Once you have a family, it’s a commitment, you need to understand that.” Max interrupted, “If you and Pierre are serious about this, not that you will but even if you do split up, children are never to be used as pawns to try and one up each other. Make sure you’re on the same page, okay? Make sure you both 100% want this. If there’s even a bit of doubt, just wait a bit.”

Charles nodded into Lukas’ hair and kissed his head. 

“Okay,” Charles agreed.

Lukas snuggled into Charles a bit more, burying his head underneath his chin and allowed his eyes to drop shut. 

Max looked at Daniel, and when Daniel smirked back, Charles immediately started ping-ponging his head between them. He could tell they were having some form of silent conversation, and Charles cursed the fact that they could do that. Eight years together did that, Charles assumed, and yet, he still didn’t trust them. 

They’d been together longer than Charles had been in F1, but Daniel and Max were the kind of couple that he wanted him and Pierre to be. Sebastian had been his teammate for a while and he’d watched Seb raise his children with Kimi, but they always seemed like Proper Adults. Daniel and Max still seemed like they were just having fun with life whilst getting to raise two of the most adorable kids Charles had ever met. 

He wanted that. 

He wanted to have adorable kids and a loving, joking relationship with his partner and he wanted to still have fun with his life. 

Everything was still so young, so new. Charles was still young, he didn’t know what to expect from life yet, but if Pierre truly would stay by his side and raise their family together, that was all he wanted.

“So, we kind of need to head out and get some stuff for the kids. We’ll be a couple of hours; can you just stay and watch them?” Max asked, even though he was already standing up and walking through to the bedroom to check that Jak was still fast asleep in his cot. 

Charles stared at them both as Daniel stood up too, grabbing a jacket and chucking it at Max as soon as he came back in, before he’d even agreed to watch the boys. He’d watched Lukas before, but he’d never been left alone with both of them and Charles had to admit he was terrified. This was Daniel and Max’s children. He had to keep them safe. 

Charles shakily nodded his head. 

“Okay, sure, I can do that.”

“Fan-dabby-dosy,” Daniel said, leaning down and gently waking Lukas in Charles’ arms. 

“Hey, be a good boy for Uncle Charles, okay? Me and Daddy are just heading out, we’ll be back before you know it.”

Lukas blinked groggily, nodded and quickly fell back to sleep. 

Daniel thanked Charles, grabbed Max’s hand and they both made a quick exit. Whether they were actually going to fetch things for the boys, Charles had no idea, but getting to spend some time just hanging out with them and seeing what it was like to be a parent was definitely something that he would keep note of. If Max and Daniel were using him to get some time in alone together, Charles couldn’t exactly blame him. He knew that if he and Pierre did have a child together, they’d probably do the same. Every one of the paddock parents love their child/children, but there was a reason why they made sure that the kids got along well enough that they could all be left in each other and one adults company. Sometimes you just needed a little break from it all. 

With Lukas cradled in his arms, Charles was quick to follow Lukas into the land of sleep. The fear of being a parent, of having a family, and being terrified of Pierre leaving him was slowly dissipating, even if it was still all there and living its best life in his head, slowly driving him crazy. 

But had Charles kept his eyes open and fully awake, he would’ve heard Pierre let himself into Max and Daniel’s hotel room, and he would’ve seen Pierre take a photo of him holding Lukas like he was the most precious thing he’d ever held in his hands. 

Pierre knew that the minute he’d come back from the bathroom and Charles had vanished without a trace that his boyfriend was probably freaking out. He’d seen it in the forced smile that Charles had given him and the definitely reluctant agreement. Pierre didn’t know why. There was nothing that Charles loved more than chasing the little ones around, especially now that there was four of them that continuously were causing havoc in a mixture of garages and could easily sneak into garages that they definitely should not have been in. 

But no one could deny sweet little Lukas Ricciardo (and his band of Merry Individuals, as he called them - he couldn’t call them his merry men because there was two girls in the group and he didn’t want to upset them) anything. The boy looked like an angel. Even if he was the sneakiest little boy that Pierre had ever met. And he meant that in the best possible way. 

Lukas reminded him of Charles at that age. 

He had the same cheeky initiative, the drive to want to be the best, the angel-like grin when he knew he’d been caught doing something he shouldn’t have, was a protective big brother (even to people he wasn’t related to), switched between languages like it was the most normal thing in the world, and was generally loving and adorable. 

Pierre knew he’d fallen for Charles when they were little kids. And when he watched the way that Charles interacted with Lukas and Jak, Olivia and Emily, or Elliot and Eva, it made him want that. 

He wanted to see his love with their love. He wanted to teach their child French and English and have Charles teach them Italian in the hopes that their little angel would drive that faithful red car one day if they wanted it. He wanted to watch Charles sit their child between his knees and teach them to drive a go-kart in one of Charles’ own just like Daniel had with Lukas. 

He wanted to hear a little one call them Papa. 

He wanted all of it, and he wanted it all with Charles. 

“Pear?” A sleepy voice muttered. 

“Bonjour, Lukas, comment ça vas?”

“Eh, bien. Charles sleepy.” He informed Pierre, settling down again and gripping onto Charles’ shirt with a tiny fist. 

“That’s okay, you keep sleeping too. I’ll check on your brother.” Pierre watched Lukas tuck himself back into Charles and fight to keep his eyes awake. Pierre stuck his head into the bedroom and when he saw Jak still fast asleep, he nodded to Lukas.

“He’s fine, sleep, bébé,” Pierre whispered. Lukas kept blinking rapidly to try and keep himself awake, but as he was slightly rocked by every deep breath Charles took Lukas found it harder to keep his eyes open and eventually dropped off again. 

“I want this,” Pierre whispered into Charles’ hair, switching to French now that Lukas was asleep, “I want all of this with you. Forever. I’m going to marry you one day and we’ll have the best baby in the world and you’ll be the best father there is, my love. I love you, so much.”

If Pierre had looked properly, he’d have seen the small smile make its way onto Charles’ lips. He’d woken up the second the door had clicked open, but when he heard the clumsy steps, he knew it was his boyfriend and so had tried to fall back asleep. He’d been so close, but then Pierre had started whispering to him in French and no matter how much Charles heard it, Pierre speaking their native tongue was still the homeliest and most heart-warming thing he could experience. 

And hearing Pierre whisper just how much he loved Charles and wanted this, he knew it was going to be the right decision. They’d talk about it properly later. They had to. Charles needed to get all his worries and his fears out, and he needed to know that Pierre was truly 100% committed to the idea of having a family together. He wanted it more than anything. No matter how ill-prepared Charles felt, he could do this. He could have a family if that’s what Pierre wanted too. 

They could do this. 

They could this together. 

They could raise their baby together. They could have a child together. 

\------

But as life seemed to work out for Charles, nothing was ever that easy. 

Six months down the line and he was laying back on a bed in the Doctor’s. He was clutching Pierre’s hand so tightly that he could feel the indentation of Pierre’s engagement ring digging into the callous of his own palm. 

Charles was still pretty proud of himself for being able to make Pierre cry twice in a day. Normally he wouldn’t be proud of that. But proposing to Pierre and then dropping the positive pregnancy test into his lap whilst he was still trying to stop crying over the idea of getting married was pretty funny. 

The doctor was moving the wand over his stomach and smiled to herself. 

“Would you like to see?” She asked, tilting the screen around and letting Charles and Pierre see their child. 

“And here’s the heartbeats.”

Charles and Pierre fell silent. They couldn’t even gasp. That was their baby on the screen. That was there, in Charles’ stomach, just waiting to be big and healthy enough to meet them and be held in their arms whilst they squabbled over who got to hold the baby first. 

Charles looked down at his stomach and smiled at the tiny tiny bump that was there. 

But then he frowned. 

“Why is it echoing so much?”

“Because that’s the first heartbeat, and that’s the second heartbeat.”

Oh, Merde, Charles thought. 

“Congratulations, gentlemen, you’re having twins.”

Merde….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)
> 
> They having two. 
> 
> I’m excited.
> 
> I hope you are too. And I hope you enjoyed this. Please feel free to comment and leave kudos and lemme know what you think. It makes me very happy.
> 
> Tumblr is as always 3303andmore - I take requests over there or in the comments of fics, they all get added to a list and I just write where the inspiration (or panic attack for this fic lol) takes me 
> 
> And I’ll see you all very soon in the next chapter where we will actually meet le kiddos :)


	2. Acosted

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I changed my mind
> 
> we're meeting the kiddos in a third chapter lol
> 
> I wanted to kinda just dive into Charles a little bit and have him realise that he was okay and it was going to be fine, so the next chapter will be about le kiddos.

Charles had barely got his foot out of the car when he got accosted by the Paddock Ringleader.

“Baby?” Lukas whispered as soon as he got close to Charles, wrapping his arms around his hips and hugging him tightly.

“Brat.” Charles responded, but he smiled at the eldest Ricciardo and picked him up. 

Lando has said that Lukas had been one of the first to pick up on the problems with him having children and that he was freakily perceptive for such a small child. But Charles was barely showing and yet Lukas knew. They hadn’t told anyone. Not even Ferrari knew yet. 

But this little brat knew. He somehow knew everything. 

“Don’t tell your daddies, okay, it’s a secret for a little bit,” Charles whispered. Lukas hugged Charles’ neck and delicately moved himself so that he wasn’t pressing against Charles’s front.

“Don’t wanna hurt baby,” Lukas told him when Charles looked at him a little bit funny. 

Charles felt the tears well up as he hugged Lukas tight. 

“You’re going to have some new friends to take care of soon, will you help us?” Charles asked, and he smiled when Lukas’ eyes lit up. 

“I can help! When do I get to play with them?” 

“Not for a while, but you’ll get to play with them in a few months.”

Lukas nodded and kissed Charles’ cheek. 

“Put down now!” He demanded, and Charles dropped him back onto his feet. 

Charles watched Lukas quickly look around, and when none of the others were paying attention, Lukas gently patted Charles’ stomach and whispered,

“Hi, am Lukas. We’ll play soon.”

Charles grinned at the little boy and hugged him to his side. They still had a long time to wait until their own children were here, but any time that he spent with Lukas, Jak, or any of the other little ones, it always reminded Charles that they were doing the right thing. He’d been so scared at the prospect of finally taking the responsibility of being someone’s Papa, but they were at the ten-week mark and suddenly it was starting to feel real. 

It was two weeks since they’d found out they were having twins, and Charles wasn’t sure if it had properly sunk in yet. He was still shocked they were even having one child, let alone two. But amongst all the uncertainty sat the fear. 

Twins were riskier. No matter the circumstances. It just heightened when your job involved you throwing yourself around a race track at ungodly speeds, risking crashes every single time. 

When they’d found out Charles was going to have the baby in August, they’d at least figured he’d still do some simulator work, help develop the car, help test it. Maybe do a couple of practices, but probably not drive the races. It seemed logical to take the step back before the season started. 

But then to get told that there were two babies relying on him, it changed everything. 

Suddenly Charles was scared to even get behind the wheel of his road car. He’d gone from being terrified of even having a child to being terrified of breathing too hard and risking something happening to the twins. Pierre tried to help out, but he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand why it was so scary. And Charles loved him for trying, he really did, but he also knew that the second that they reached the twelve-week safety mark, he’d be on the phone straight away to Max panicking over pregnancy. 

“Charles? You coming in or are you just going to let my child freeze to death out here?” Daniel said, knocking his fist against Charles’ shoulder and knocking him out of his weird headspace. 

Charles shook his head slightly, almost as though he was trying to dispel the thoughts from his head. 

“Yeah, sorry, is everyone here?”

“Surprised you can’t hear the kids screaming.” Daniel responded. Charles hadn’t noticed, but when he listened he realised there was definitely someone screaming. 

“Do you have anything to do with that argument?” Daniel asked Lukas. Lukas immediately offered up the most angelic grin he could and shook his head, but Daniel and Charles both knew that there was no way the little ringleader wouldn’t have done something and then scarpered before he could get dragged into the argument between Elliot and Olivia. 

“I’m looking after Uncle Charles!” Lukas said instead, which had Daniel laugh and shake his head. 

“Go find your brother,” Daniel told him. Lukas nodded and ran back into the house, his voice echoing behind him as he shouted for Jak. 

“That’s what you’re getting yourself in for. He’s the best thing that ever happened to us, but be prepared that when you and Pierre decide to have kids that you’re dealing with that, all the time.” Daniel laughed. Charles tried to laugh along, but all he could think about was that in just a few months, this would be him. 

He’d have children and babies and people that relied on him and needed him. 

“Hey, you alright?” Daniel asked, resting his hand on Charles’ shoulder. 

“Yeah, just thinking.” Charles shrugged. It was only when a small smile worked its way onto his lips at the prospect of his two little babies being here and causing havoc that Daniel seemed to calm down. 

Charles followed Daniel into his house. 

“Drink?”

“Just water. I’m driving us home,” Charles replied. 

“Stay here tonight. We’ve got the room man. The kids are all having a sleepover anyway so you and Pierre staying won’t make a difference. As long as you don’t mind getting woken up by a screaming baby at some point, depends if they get him down okay.” 

But Charles didn’t mind. After all, it would only be practice for the lesser sleep he’d be getting when his own little ones were here. 

“We don’t want to put you out of your way,” he shrugged. 

“You won’t be. We’ve already got the others staying over, it’s New Years, Charles, it’ll be nice to spend it all together.”

“I’ll talk to Pierre,” Charles agreed finally. When Daniel’s eyes lit up at the idea of them staying over, Charles knew that he wasn’t opposed to using certain tactics (mainly involving Lukas and Jak whacking out their puppy dog eyes and knowing that Charles could never deny those blue-eyed angels anything).

Charles wondered whether his children would have his green eyes or Pierre’s blues. Whether the children would have dark hair or light hair. Or would they have one of each? Identical or not? Were his twins going to spend their lives getting confused for each other or were they destined to spend their lives trying to convince people they were twins? 

The more Charles looked around, at the parents, at the children, he questioned what his babies would be. Charles had been in his first year with Ferrari when Lukas was born, and he still remembered meeting that tiny little being for the first time, and giggling with Pierre over the tiny six-week-old baby propped up against the cushions and wearing the smallest little clothes they’d ever seen. 

He and Pierre hadn’t been together then, but Charles had gone home that night and dreamt about the day Pierre would come and tell him that he was going to be a dad. Charles hadn’t known at the time, hadn’t been able to process that feelings, but the idea of Pierre being a dad had terrified Charles. He thought it was because he was scared of the commitment of seeing his best friend raise a child. Now he understood it was the fear of watching his best friend love someone else enough to raise a family with someone that wasn’t him. 

But now there was their future together growing in Charles’ tummy and he couldn’t wait. He was terrified, absolutely petrified, but knowing that he was the one Pierre loved enough to want to have a family with, it changed everything. 

“Okay, mon amour?” Pierre whispered, wrapping his arms around Charles’ waist from behind and pressing a kiss to his neck. Charles melted into Pierre’s hold and rested his hands over Pierre’s. The embrace didn’t obviously indicate anything, but Pierre’s thumb was rubbing soothingly across Charles’s tummy. A gentle reminder that the twins were there, waiting patiently to meet their Papa’s. 

“Oui,” Charles replied, turning his head enough to capture Pierre’s lips in his. “Lukas knows.”

“Of course he does,” Pierre laughed, “Did he tell you or did you tell him?”

“He told me. Just looked at me as I got out the car and said ‘baby?’. Lando was right, he’s too smart.”

Pierre simply smiled against Charles’ lips. 

“I can’t wait till that’s our kids doing that to us.” He murmured.

“Me neither,” Charles admitted happily, repressing the fear. 

Another seven months. They just had to wait another seven months. 

Pierre eventually nudged Charles to walk into the house and the two were frantically attacked from all angles by the numerous children running around, all fighting to get a hug from their favourite French uncles (they knew Charles was Monègasque but that didn’t stop them just lumping him in with the French, they had more pressing issues to address rather than whatever Charles’ nationality was). The two knelt down and were quickly attacked by the kids, all clamouring around to get the first hug from them. 

“This will be us, soon,” Pierre murmured quietly and Charles looked over and grinned.

In a few months they’d have their two babies, but until then, they had five children all aged seven and under attacking them for cuddles. And their parents just stood staring and laughing at them. 

Regardless of how terrified he was, Charles couldn’t wait for that moment. When he and Pierre walked through the door and were attacked by miniature versions of themselves. 

But right now, they had a new year to ring in and Charles desperately needed to pee. 

\----  
The kids were quickly tiring themselves out with all the running around. Lukas, as to be expected, was the ringleader behind a giant game of hide and seek that they were even able to get little Jak and Emily involved in. And every now and again the conversations were interrupted by a storm of footsteps around the house and the screams of someone getting caught and being turned into a zombie? Charles really had no idea what was going on. 

“Won’t be long until your one is getting involved in that,” Max nudged Alex, smiling at little Henry fast asleep in his arms. 

Charles was cuddled back against Pierre’s chest with Pierre’s arm around his waist, delicately brushing his fingers over Charles’ front. He thought he’d caught Sebastian staring at them, but he shrugged the thought away. There was no way that the others knew they were expecting. 

Eventually the kids started to settle down and Lukas flopped onto the sofa in between his Dads, laying his head against Max’s arm as he ate an apple.

“How’s parenthood treating you two, then?” Daniel asked George and Alex, leaning across Max and Lukas to stroke his fingers down Henry’s little face.

“Exhausting, but the best feeling in the world,” Alex smiled, “Getting to see his little smile every single day, it’s just the best thing in the world.”

“I can’t believe it took us this long for it to happen.” George kissed Alex’s temple, “I still can’t believe it did happen, you know?”

“You better believe it because you’re on the nightshift tonight.”

George groaned but everyone knew it was good-naturedly. 

Charles couldn’t wait until they were arguing over who took the night shifts and who was going to be dealing with the smelly nappies. But they’d be having twins, and maybe things would be different for him and Pierre. But either way, they’d have two little people that needed them and it would definitely be the best thing in the world. 

He felt the same as George though. He couldn’t believe it had happened either.

“Reckon you’ll have another one day?”

“Maybe. We’re happy with Henry for a while, whether we have another one, we’ll just wait and see,” George answered.

“Daddy’s gonna have another baby.” Lukas announced, which had Daniel splutter and Max spit out his drink.

“Excuse me?!” They screeched in unison, which had all the adults laugh. 

“Not yet!” Lukas rolled his eyes, “But I want another brother, so you gotta have another baby.”

Max and Daniel both looked as though all the colour had dropped from their faces, but Charles also saw that wistful look in Daniel’s eyes.

Lukas had been the little monster that it seemed like all the Paddock fell in love with and made them want their own version. And Daniel had definitely been enamoured with Max even more so when he was pregnant. Whether they would have another or not, Charles had no idea, but when he saw the way that Daniel and Max still struggled along, parenting what Charles thought were two little angels, he knew they wouldn’t be alone. There was a whole paddock out there waiting to help them.

And Charles couldn’t wait to tell them about his own. Or have his children meet them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I genuinely enjoy writing about Lukas too much he's such a little brat haha
> 
> Also Henry!! The sweetest lil boy I can't wait to introduce him to you all properly
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this. Please feel free to comment and leave kudos and lemme know what you think. It makes me very happy.
> 
> Tumblr is as always 3303andmore - I take requests over there or in the comments of fics, they all get added to a list and I just write where the inspiration takes me
> 
> And I’ll see you all very soon in the next chapter where we will actually meet le kiddos (for real this time I promise lol) :)


	3. Petrified

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I promise this time it is actually meeting the kiddos time. 
> 
> After we get to see the guys reaction to finding out there is going to be twins joining the paddock after Makalockheart mentioned that it was _Too bad we didn't get the boys' reaction to the happy news_ and I got thinking and bang
> 
> I hope you enjoy and enjoy finding out what the kids ended up being called :)

Telling the paddock they were expecting the twins was something that they knew they had to do. Especially as winter testing was about to start and Ferrari needed to announce who was going to be Charles’ replacement for the year. And there was no way that Charles was going to let them find out from social media. They had to tell them. 

Charles wished he could’ve said that the idea of telling them all was planned out well and something he and Pierre had thought through, discussed between them and figured out together. 

But no. 

The idea came to Charles in a dream.

All his dreams always seemed to be about the twins these days anyway, and when Lukas was probably just as excited as he and Pierre were, it made sense that it all came back to him. 

It always did.

Charles 100% believed that that boy would either run the FIA or run a country one day. He had too much power for a six-year-old. 

And so it only seemed fitting that Lukas and his band of Merry Individuals helped break the news.

Charles was nearly four months along and it was getting harder to hide the bump. 

It was time. 

Pierre went through to chat with the dads whilst Charles snuck off to find the kids. Luckily, Lukas and Olivia had been left in charge of the kids (whose bright idea that was Charles had no idea), and so it worked out perfectly.

“Uncle Charles!” Lukas exclaimed as Charles pushed the door open. Lukas immediately clambered up and ran over to him, but slowed down before he slammed himself into Charles.

Charles knelt down and pulled Lukas into a hug. Olivia waved at him over Lukas’ shoulder. 

“I have a job I need you guys to help me out with.” 

Lukas looked over his shoulder, flicked his eyes between Olivia and Elliot, and turned back to Charles.

“What’s in it for us?”

“You’ll confuse your parents.”

“We’re in.” Lukas nodded before he’d even consulted with the others. 

Charles laughed and pushed himself into a seated position. Lukas and Jak, Elliot and Eva, and Olivia and Emily were all sat before him, waiting for Charles to explain what the plan was. 

The kids gasped when he told them but they all nodded. Well, the older ones did. Jak and Emily didn’t really know what was going on, but they did anything their older siblings told them to do so it was fine. 

“So you go first and then we come in and we get to scare Daddy and Papa?” Lukas checked. 

When Charles agreed, Lukas rocked up onto his knees and high-fived Charles. 

Charles left the kids to confer amongst themselves and headed from the playroom through to the front room. 

Pierre looked up as Charles entered and smiled. 

The sound of something banging had all the parents look towards where the kids were, but then the sound of feet smacking against the floor had them settle. 

The kids entered in a line, Jak clutching onto Lukas’ hand and Emily holding onto Olivia’s, as she was still quite shaky on her legs. Once they were all stood in front of their assembled parents, Lukas took a deep breath and once Elliot and Olivia nodded at him, he continued.

“Daddy, Papa. Uncle’s and Ukki. We have gathered you here to tell you something.” Lukas announced.

Daniel and Max looked at each other nervously. There was little that worried them more than when their eldest child got very dramatic on them

“Go on, Lu.” Daniel said.

“Charles,” Lukas started.

“And,” Jak continued.

“Pierre,” Olivia said next.

“Are,” Emily followed.

“Having,” Elliot continued.

“Twins!” Eva finished, throwing her hands up in the air in excitement. 

Pierre and Charles laughed at the absolute gob smacked expressions on everyone’s faces. 

“You’re what?!” Sebastian eventually broke the silence. 

“We’re having twins,” Charles grinned, standing up and readjusting his shirt so that the bump was much more prominent as the congratulations poured in from the others. 

Sebastian gathered his old teammate in his arms and hugged Charles as tight as he could.

“I’m so happy for you, Pup. Twins! Amazing!” Sebastian told him, rubbing his hands up and down Charles’ back. 

“When are they due?” Max asked, wrapping his arms around Pierre.

“July.” He confirmed, smiling at the way Sebastian and Kimi hugged Charles between them. 

Lukas and Elliot pushed themselves between Sebastian and Kimi and hugged Charles’ hips, the pair of them pressing their hands to Charles’ tummy. 

“We gon’ have some new friends, El.” Lukas whispered. Elliot nodded and looked at Lukas conspiratorially. 

Daniel saw the grins on the boys faces and nudged Max. 

“Can you believe they let him tell us?”

“Lukas has known for ages anyway, it was only fitting.” Pierre grinned.

“I’ve known since New Year’s, Daddy.” Lukas grinned, looking up at them both with proud expressions. 

“HOW DID YOU KEEP THAT A SECRET?!”

“Charles told me to,” he shrugged, before darting off to go find where Jak had wandered off to, bored with all the adults being happy. 

Charles smiled sheepishly and shrugged. 

“He just knew!”

Max rolled his eyes whilst Daniel nodded.

“I mean he did know that we were having a boy within like a week of us even telling him we were having another baby. That kid, I swear, is magic.” Daniel explained. 

“I’m waiting for Lukas to tell us what we’re having,” Pierre grinned, wrapping his arms around Charles’ waist and splaying his hands across his stomach properly. 

Alex handed baby Henry over to George and hugged Pierre as well as he could. 

“So happy for you mate. Told you good things would come to you.” He quietly whispered. Pierre pulled away from Charles and hugged Alex properly, dropping his head onto Alex’s shoulder and burying his face in his neck. 

“Thank you, man, for everything.” He responded. 

Charles looked over at the two. They’d spent the last few years of their careers swapping seats, and Charles had never heard a bad word come from either of them regarding the other, but seeing the genuine respect between them had tears fill Charles’ eyes.

“Oh, you’re going to be a crier...” Max sighed as he warned him, “I was the same with both the boys. You’ll see a nice flower and you’ll start crying.”

Charles huffed and wiped them tears. 

Lando took the opportunity to hug Charles. The two had formed a close friendship over the years and when Lando and Carlos had their issues with conceiving their family, Charles had been one of the few drivers to be told. And so, even though Charles knew that Lando adored his adopted daughters with his entire heart and treated them as though they were biologically his, he was still concerned that Lando would be upset. 

“I’m really happy for you, and I must remind you, Lando is an excellent and very versatile name and any son or daughter would be honoured to bear that mantle.” 

“I’m not naming my kids after you,” Charles told him, but the grin on his face almost disputed the harsh tone. 

“Yeah you are. You know you are. I deserve this.”

“You’ve already got two daughters, you could’ve easily dropped your name into one of their middle names.” Charles pointed out.

“Nah, can’t do that. Olivia’s name was practically Valentino, once a fanboy always a fanboy. And Emily Lando doesn’t work so well. You’ve got a blank slate, it’s an option.” 

Charles laughed and continued shaking his head. As he hugged Lando again, he looked around the room. 

Kimi and Sebastian were stood to the side, quietly talking amongst themselves and surveying all the young drivers with protective smiles on their faces. 

Max and Daniel were talking with Pierre and George about pregnancy cravings and laughing at some of the bizarre things that Max and Alex had both craved. 

Carlos was trying to convince Olivia that she needed to hand Alex back Henry. 

Charles didn’t know why he’d ever been worried about having children. 

He missed his father and Jules every single day. 

But he knew their advice and he’d got to experience them. And now he had a whole group of friends who were happily showing them the ropes on how to parent. 

And Charles didn’t feel scared or alone anymore.

Maybe he and Pierre could do it. 

\----

“If you don’t stop fucking pacing, I will leave this room, get in your fucking race car and I will run you over until every bone in your body is in a million pieces,” Charles threatened.

Pierre turned abruptly and stared at Charles as he continued to ramble.

“I know you’re scared, but they’re about to cut me open seven weeks earlier than we expected, and I’m fucking petrified and I really need you to just stop freaking out so that I can freak out. Please.” Charles whimpered, screwing his face up. 

Pierre dived to his side, kneeling down at the side of the bed and cupping Charles’ face in his hands. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I know you’re scared, I know. But we’ll be there together and everything is going to be fine and the doctors know what they’re doing.”

“Seven weeks, Pierre,” Charles sobbed, “They’re not ready, they’re not. I need to keep them safe.”

“We’re in the best possible place baby, they’re ready, the doctors wouldn’t be doing this if they weren’t sure it was the best thing to do, okay? The twins are going to be okay.”

Charles shook his head. He needed to keep his babies safe and the only way he could do that was if they stayed in his tummy. They weren’t ready to be in this world. They needed to be kept safe and Charles was the one that was meant to be keeping them safe. Not machines and wires and doctors. 

They were his and Pierre’s babies. It was their job to keep them safe and healthy and ready for this world. 

He wasn’t ready. 

He wasn’t ready to be a dad. 

He thought he still had another seven weeks to get ready. 

“Pierre I’m scared,” Charles said, pulling Pierre up to him and resting his head against Pierre’s shoulder. 

“I’m terrified too, amour, but it’s going to be okay.”

“Promise?”

When Pierre never said anything, Charles couldn’t blame him. They didn’t know if it was going to be okay. They really had no idea. They’d known the babies were likely to come early, and most likely to be born by Charles having his abdomen sliced open, but they were expecting it way later. Not when he was only 33 weeks. They still had so much time to grow. 

“Right, Charles, we’re ready for you. Do you want to come and get some scrubs on, Pierre?” 

Charles gripped Pierre’s arms and held him. 

“Don’t go, I don’t want to do this,” Charles sobbed. 

Pierre leant forward and brushed Charles’ hair off his forehead. 

“We’re ready, baby. Just think, we’re getting to meet our babies faster than we thought. We’re going to be okay, Charles. But I need to get ready, so we can meet our babies.”

Charles shook his head. 

“We’re not ready.”

“Yes. Yes, we are.” Pierre promised him, kissing Charles as hard as he could. “In an hour, we’re going to be looking at our little babies and we’re going to be ready, okay?”

Tears kept streaming as Pierre pulled away, only this time the tears were matched on Pierre’s cheeks. They were both utterly terrified and neither of them were ready. But they had babies to meet. Two little beans that needed them more than anything. That would need their Papa’s to help look after them, because they were entering this world quicker than the world was ready for them. But they needed them. And Pierre and Charles needed them too. 

\----

Pierre thought Charles was passed out completely for the next few hours, exhausted from the surgery and all the fear and anxiety that had ripped through them. But then he heard a gasp and he watched Charles’ eyes fly open, his hand launch itself onto his stomach.

“The babies.” He cried, struggling to push himself up but Pierre was quick to stand up and hold his shoulder down. 

“Don’t move, you need to go slow.”

“Where are they? Where’s the kids? Pierre are they okay?!” Charles nearly screamed, and if it wasn’t for Pierre’s hand holding him down, he knew Charles would be pushing himself out of the bed and running to look for the kids. 

“Charles, calm down,” Pierre laughed, “Charles just look. Look properly.”

Charles’ frantically moving eyes locked on Pierre.

“What?”

But then he saw. 

The tiny little bundle in Pierre’s arms. 

“Oh my god…”

“The kids are fine, Charles. Our babies are absolutely fine.”

“You promise?” He asked, his voice timid. 

“Absolutely perfect.” Pierre smiled.

“Can I see?”

Pierre nodded and got the remote to move Charles’ bed into a sitting position. When Charles was more upright, he saw that aside from the bundle in Pierre’s arms, there was another little bundle resting on their back in a little bed beside him. 

“Our little boy,” Pierre told him as he lowered the baby into his waiting arms, and then picked up the other bundle and sat himself delicately beside Charles, careful not to jostle him at all. 

“And here’s our little girl.” Pierre followed up. Charles leant against his side and looked down at them both. 

“They’re fine?”

“They’re on some medication, just to help their lungs out a bit, but the doctors are really proud of them. They both came out screaming, Charles. They’re going to be absolutely fine. They need to spend a bit of time just being observed, but you’re going to be in for a while anyway. We can take them by this time next week.”

Charles’ lip started trembling as the tears hit him. All the fear and worry and anxiety, it was gone. Looking at these two little gifts from Heaven, it made everything okay. He still wasn’t sure how to be a dad, and he didn’t know how to balance his children and his relationship and his job, but they’d be okay. 

At least Charles thought that they would. 

In much the same way that most other Paddock Children had been announced, the pair took to Instagram to announce their children. 

‘Our gifts from Heaven. Anthoine Florent and Adélie Jade, you make our lives complete’

And Charles couldn’t wait to introduce his two little monsters to the paddock properly. If the responses on Instagram were anything to go by, Lukas and his Merry Individuals were very excited (yet probably not as excited as Lando was – that boy still adored babies more than anyone that they had ever met).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you like the names - Tumblr picked them because I had no idea what to call them haha 
> 
> Please feel free to comment and leave kudos and lemme know what you think. It makes me very happy.
> 
> Tumblr is as always 3303andmore - I take requests over there or in the comments of fics, they all get added to a list and I just write where the inspiration takes me.
> 
> :)


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